I was the one assigned (or more of appointed myself) to take care of our travel needs. First on the list was to book our flight to Hong Kong. Philippines Airlines (PAL) and international airlines were out of my list due to our tight budget. My choices were trimmed down to three options: Cebu Pacific, Air Asia and Tiger Airways. So I watched out for their airline promo fares.
I compared the three airlines. Cebu Pacific is more expensive than Air Asia and Tiger Airways. But the latter airlines will be coming from Clark, Subic on an early morning flight. That means leaving Manila very early or spending the night in Clark. So comparing the expenses of going to Clark for a cheaper fare but spending more on an overnight stay there, we decided to go for Cebu Pacific. Their baggage fee is also lower compared to the ones in Clark.
What I learned here is that it’s hard (and impossible) to book promo fares for a group. We were a group of 8 and I wasn’t able to get a promo fare. For our travel last October 31, 2012 (departure from Manila to HK) and November 3, 2012 (arrival in Manila from HK), our fare was estimated around Php8,000 each for a round-trip ticket to and from HK. This includes the base fare, taxes & fees, prepaid baggage, web admin fee and travel insurance. Additional expense will be for the airport terminal fee (Php550 for international departures) and Philippine Travel Tax (Php1,620 for adults, Php810 for for children 2-11 yrs old).
Cebu Pacific also allows you to choose if you’re going to book a luggage or avail their meals. We didn’t get their meals which is Php350/meal but instead brought our own snacks. Then, instead of getting luggage allowance for all, I just got ourselves 3 luggage allowance – one for my parents, one for my sis and nephew and one for my family. That’s only 3 check-in luggage for the 7 of us. We got the 20kg luggage allowance to HK and 30kg allowance going back to Manila (thinking that we’ll a bringing more because of the shopping and pasalubongs).
My aunt, who’s the 8th person in our group, got her ticket instead in Cebu Pacific’s office. She got it only a few weeks before our trip so when I checked online, the fare is more expensive than what we got. But, she actually paid less because there was no web admin fee anymore. This is another lesson learned.
On the day of our flight, we were already at the airport around 3am since our flight was 5:40am. And guess what? As usual, our flight was delayed. It was so Cebu Pacific. We were delayed for 2 hours. So much for waking up early. Good thing there were a few dining areas in NAIA Terminal 3.
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| My dad and nephew |
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| my fave coffee shop |
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| too bad i can’t have ice cream that early morning |
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| meals and coffee |
What I also didn’t like about our departure is that when we were ready to board the plane. Passengers must walk through the airport tunnel and go straight to the airplane’s entrance, right? But on this flight, after walking through the tunnel, we need to go out a door, walk down a steel staircase, walk on pavement and then go up the stairs to reach the plane’s door. I feel bad for the senior passengers and those with kids (like us). And what if it was raining? We’ll surely get wet. It was too much hassle. That time, I had an I-told-you-so look from my dad who insisted that we go for PAL.
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| View from the walkway going to the airplane |
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| Just before boarding the plane |
Well, charge it to experience. The rest of the flight was smooth. No time to feel bad about that experience and we just enjoyed our first family trip to Hong Kong 🙂
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| Welcome to Hong Kong! |
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